UC Businesses Among First Recipients of TN Cost Share Program

Three Upper Cumberland agriculture-based firms will improve their operations thanks to a new state program.

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture has announced 20 Forestry, Agriculture, and Rural Markets (FARM) cost share recipients across the state Monday.

Larry Masters is Founder of Underground Slaughter in White County. Masters said the funds would be used for a 9,000 square foot expansion, improving processes, and adding services.

“Think of like sliced turkey breast, deli hams, deli-meats. Any type of product that you can go into the store and buy and all you have to do is reheat it. That’s the type of products that are going to be coming out of here on the meat and poultry.”

USDA inspected Underground Slaughter provides processing and custom cuts which can be sold separately and shipped across state lines directly from the farmer to their customers.

Masters said the expansion and new service offerings will allow farmers to add new ready-to-eat products to their own markets including online and at farmer’s markets.

“This grant is going to help us strengthen the food chain in Tennessee, ” Masters said. “It’s not only going to help the farmers and help people get food, it’s going to help the local economy too.”

Masters said he missed out on a federal grant previously and that motivated him to aggressively pursue the FARM grant. He said as the only multi-species processor in Tennessee, customer demand is exceeding his capacity. He said in 2022, the slaughterhouse had processed about 18,000 in poultry alone.

Masters said his grant request also focused on dealing locally with supply chain issues.

“Any sort of emergency that would come in that could interrupt our supply chain like when you walk into the grocery store and there’s no meat on the shelf,” Masters said. “Keeping that supply local, that’s really what I focus on.”

Additional Upper Cumberland recipients of the FARM cost share include Logger Joseph Burks of Clay County and Hale and Hines Nursery of Warren County. There were 259 applicants and 20 recipients in this first round.